Can I put my student loans back into deferment if I do this?

Asked by tedd (14078

) December 28th, 2010

I am in the process of looking for a new job. Need a big change of scenery/life/whatever etc… not important in this question… Anyways. The most recent job I’m going to be interviewing for is for an admissions position for about 10 online schools and a few in person/local schools. The job is completely outside of my field (chemistry), but the pay is almost identical to what I make now (with slightly better benefits). The big perk though, is that I would have free tuition to any of the schools the company handles. This would include nursing schools, masters of business degrees, criminal justice degrees (I’m trying to get into forensics so that would be nice), even a few doctorate degrees (though I didn’t inquire as to what areas those were in).

The question is really two fold I guess. First and most importantly; if I were to accept this job and use the free tuition to start taking classes, would I be able to put my student loans back into deferment? That has been my biggest hindrance to going back to school already and would be nice. Does anyone have experience with the details on this? (i’m sure I’d learn more about it on my new job, but for the moment I’m largely in the dark).

Second; would you take this job? Its totally out of my current field so it wouldn’t help my career in that aspect. It would definitely fulfill my desire for a big change in my life, and would help with the free tuition thing. The pay is almost a wash, I would make about a dollar less than I do now for the first 90 days, then about a dollar more after that. Maintain benefits (slightly better 401k even). Would you take the jump into a totally different field for the free tuitions sake?

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6 Answers

@tedd it sounds like you are working now and have already starting paying on your loans. You should contact the agency servicing your loans. You may talk to them about switching repayment plans to one that works better for your situation. Under the Federal Direct Student Loan ProgramSM, you can change plans any time as long as the maximum repayment period under your new plan is longer than the time your Direct Loans have already been in repayment. Even if they defer or suspend your loan payments, most likely you’ll still be charged interest. My understanding is deferments are for certain situations like economic hardships, military service and such.

bkcunningham (18496

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Talk to them. If you’re having financial hardships they’ll work with you. But, take it from experience, please don’t defer them unless you absolutely HAVE to. My original loans from 1993 were only $10,000. Due to deferment and financial issues, I now owe $15,000. Pay them off ASAP.

Dutchess_III (46806

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@Dutchess_III I have been paying non stop since graduating. What I’m wondering is if I can put them into deferment without interest if i go back to school full, or possibly part time.

tedd (14078

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@tedd I seriously don’t think they’ll do that. No. They’re out to make money!

Dutchess_III (46806

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My son has had to put his school loan on deferment twice, when he has been unemployed. Go ahead and ask, what can it hurt?

YARNLADY (46378

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You may not be able to put unsubsidized loans back in, but you should be able to pay interest only on subsidized ones if you go to school part-time.

I think, more importantly than salary, the skill set required for this job is very people-oriented, and will require you to be outgoing, do presentations, sell the schools. Even if you just do it for a short time, this could be a useful skillset to develop further down the road.

BarnacleBill (16123

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